Movie reviews, big and small, for anything that has passed before my eyes.

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Mimesis: Night Of The Living Dead (2011)

Directed by Douglas Schulze, who also came up with the central story idea (then made into script form by Joshua Wagner), Mimesis: Night Of The Living Dead - aka just Mimesis - has one or two interesting ideas and moments in the mix, but just ends up falling apart as the lack of logic and poor character choices start to mount up.

Allen Maldonado plays Duane, a young man attending a horror fan event with his friend Russell (Taylor Piedmonte). It's never quite clear why Duane is there, however, as he doesn't seem to enjoy the culture that he sees around him and just spends his time berating Russell for being so passionate about the genre. The two young men end up receiving an invite to an exclusive party, unaware of the fact that things are about to get a bit strange. After some time at the party, everyone passes out. They all wake up in the morning, dressed in different clothes and, apparently, in the middle of the events that unfolded in Night Of The Living Dead. How the hell did they end up there, and how the hell are they going to get out?

When I first saw the trailer for Mimesis: Night Of The Living Dead I thought that it looked great. I know, I know, after all of these years watching movies and trailers I should really know better. But no, I am still as gullible as I was so many years ago. I thought this was a great concept and hoped it would play out well.

It IS a great concept, to a certain degree, but it's not played out well. The script is weak, and full of moments to make you pull your hair out (e.g. characters discussing how to get to a truck and start it up before one of the same characters only mentioning later that in Night Of The Living Dead the truck blew up when someone tried to use it), and it's complemented by a weak cast. None of the leads are likeable, with Maldonado and David G. B. Brown being put forward as the nominal heroes, but there are two small roles for genre favourites, Sid Haig and Courtney Gains. Gavin Grazer is suitably irritating as the irritating husband/father who fans of the original movie loved to hate so much, Lauren Mae Shafer and Jana Thompson aren't give much to do and the other cast members are given even less.

The direction from Schulze is competent, I guess, but there's no style and nothing to detract from the failings. Even when replicating the moments from Night Of The Living Dead, it doesn't seem to take the time and care to get anything spot on. Everything feels slapdash. That's a shame, because of more care and time had been taken with the plot development and shot choice then this COULD have been almost as good as the trailer made it out to be.